tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 28 13:04:05 1996

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Re: KLBC: *(ghot jIchu')


T::>Jeff Zeitlin writes:
 ::>>Subject: ghot jIchu'

T::>Hi, Jeff; welcome to the list.  I'm your friendly neighborhood
    ...
 ::>if you put the codephrase "KLBC" in the subject of a message, I
 ::>will try to read and reply to the message quickly.  (It stands
 ::>for Klingon Language Beginners Conference.)

 Thank you.  This is good to know; might I suggest that it be
 added to the intro message for future subscribers?

T::>Verbs like {chu'} "be new" don't work with objects.  The verb prefix
 ::>you chose, {jI-}, also says there is no object in the sentence.  The
 ::>word {ghot} is just sitting there, not attached to anything.  If you
 ::>want to say "I am a new person", you probably have to use a pronoun
 ::>as a "to be" verb (see TKD 6.3): {ghot chu' jIH}.  But as you noticed,
 ::>that's not literally what you meant.  Perhaps you can just say {jIchu'},
 ::>or maybe {naDev jIchu'}.

 Given your explanation, and a reread of the appropriate
 sections of TKD, I understand.  I think that what I really
 needed, but didn't think of, was a phrase along the lines of
 <to this conference/discussion/mailing-list> prepended to or
 in place of the {ghot}.  Certainly, {jIchu'} does provide the
 "short form", and might be adequate in context, but I feel that
 while learning the language, I should attempt to avoid
 depending on context as much as reasonably possible.

 Upon reconsideration, I also think that the verb {paw} would
 have been a better choice than {chu'}:

 DaH naDev vIpawta'     <I have now arrived here>

 although I suspect that the head of Linguistic Studies at the
 University of {Qo'noS} would have a fit about my thinking in
 English, not Klingon.  Not to mention that it has the potential
 of coming across (to many Americans, at least) as arrogant and
 egotistical, and could conceivably generate a bunch of "so
 what?" flames...  Hmm... maybe that's appropriate for {tlhIngan
 Hol}... :)

 Also, is there a verb suffix that has the sense of "result/
 product of", for example: {jeS}, to discuss -> {jeS*},
 discussion?

 As to your second suggestion, {naDev jIchu'}:  This confuses me
 somewhat.  As you indicated, the {jI-} prefix indicated no
 object, thus leaving my {ghot} hanging.  Why does this not
 occur with respect to your {naDev} as well?  TKD indicates that
 both {naDev} and {ghot} are of the same part of speech (noun)
 and the construction clearly places them both as putative
 objects of the verb {chu'}.

T::>Many such lists exist, in the private collections of individual members
 ::>of the KLI and this mailing list.  There is no *official* list of the
 ::>post-TKD words (at least not yet).  The easiest way to obtain a (nearly)
 ::>complete set of new words is to purchase a set of back issues of the
 ::>KLI's quarterly journal, HolQeD.  Among the other useful articles there,
 ::>one often finds lists of words revealed by such things as the audiotapes,
 ::>the ST:Klingon CD-ROM, and even directly from Marc Okrand himself.

 This is probably the best route, although doubtless the most
 expensive.  I'll have to stop by the site again and look into
 this, and a subscription.

==========================================================================
Jeff Zeitlin                                      [email protected]
---
 � OLXWin 1.00b � And remember: Oprah spelled backwards is Harpo

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